1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for skinning a game animal, and more particularly relates to an apparatus for removing the skin from an animal quickly and easily in an outdoor environment.
2. Background
When a large game animal, such as a deer, is shot and killed by a hunter in the wild, the hunter must then skin the animal and transport the animal back to the hunter's home. It is desirable that the skinning process take place in a way that does no damage to the animal's head and antlers, since hunters often desire to mount this portion of the animal.
It is well known in the art that the skin of a large game animal can be removed by cutting the skin and removing it by peeling the skin off of the carcass. Various patents have been awarded for devices which more easily facilitate this skinning process. Many of these patents teach that the animal is required to be suspended above the ground. Many of these patents require cuts to be made in the animal's skin and a rope or cable to be attached to the skin behind the animal's neck. The skin is then peeled away from the animal by applying a pulling force on the rope or cable.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,084 to Carrington teaches a Deer Skinning Apparatus and Method of Using Same which utilizes this technique. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,317,257 and 4,529,220 to Engel also disclose similar techniques for skinning an animal.
The Carrington patent teaches a means for attaching a rope to the animal's skin. The rope is fed through a hole in an anchor block then back through a second hole in the anchor block where it is then knotted so that it is secured thereto. A stop clip is provided to maintain the position of the rope once it is fed through the anchor block. Repeated application and removal of the stop clip will cause wear on a localized area of the rope, subjecting the rope to premature breakage when a pulling force is applied. Finally, the application of force necessary to remove the skin from the animal is applied directly to the skin that is stretched tightly over the anchor block. This results in unnecessary deformation of the skin of the animal. Similarly, the Engel patents teach placing a rock or other irregular object behind the animal's skin to form a pouch as an attachment point for a rope or cable. The skin is cinched adjacent to the object and is stretched around it.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,124 to Garside teaches a Horizontal Skinning and Protection Apparatus. The Garside patent also teaches a method for removing the skin from a game animal. The Garside patent does not require that the animal has to be suspended above the ground. Instead Garside teaches that the game animal should be placed horizontally on a tarp and that the animal's head should be secured to an immovable object. The skin is then peeled from the animal by means of a vehicle attached thereto by a cable. The attachment means is a cable that is run through a curved hollow cylinder. The cable extends through the cylinder and loops back into the cylinder. The looped cable is then used to secure a portion of skin that is subsequently drawn towards the cylinder and that is penetrated by a cylindrical spike that is supplied thereon. A difficulty with the Garside device is that the attachment means is unnecessarily bulky and complex, and is therefore unnecessarily heavy and expensive.